Recently, Justice Daphne Barak-Erez froze the Knesset’s security-related legislation that restricts granting status in Israel to foreigners whose relatives were convicted of terrorism. In practice, her decision blocks the restriction set by the Knesset, and allows for the continued review of the status requests of those same foreigners.

Thus, a single Justice intervened in a law passed by Israel’s parliament, without a hearing and without providing reasoning, as though it were a routine administrative decision of some bureaucrat in a local council.

This intervention was carried out thorough an interim order, without any necessity to issue one. Even should the petition be accepted in the future, status can then be granted to applicants whose requests are pending. And even were a temporary freeze necessary, it could have been limited till the state submitted its response to the petition.

This ruling distorts Israel’s immigration laws without any basis in law. It creates, in effect, the presupposition that foreigners have the right to immigrate to Israel; therefore, denying such right cannot be allowed without proving they themselves guilty.

Moreover, this decision, without any justification and in the midst of a multi-front war, constitutes harm to the Knesset and government’s national security considerations.